Saturday, August 11, 2012

Welkom in Sint Maarten!

So much for writing about Key West Day 2 and my other NYC adventures before starting a new chapter... I'm in Sint Maarten now! In Cole Bay, by Philipsburg, to be exact. And I love it already! I packed my bags last night after getting back from Key West, so I wouldn't have to do it in the morning and wouldn't wake any of the other girls in the dorm. This morning, then, I got up at 6AM (and a bit, honest as always) and took a quick shower. About 30min later Tonii came to pick me up - she still has the rental car so I didn't have to get a taxi or a rideshare to the airport. Such a wonderful person, that lady! I keep having such luck with the people I meet along the way, oh my. Got to the airport a little bit after 7AM, went straight to check-in and because it was an international flight, Spirit wouldn't let me do the self-check-in. So I had to get in line for the regular check-in, but there were a few people ahead of me, so I didn't have to wait a lot. The attendant even gave me a window seat and it was in the 11th row - on August 11th! I just love when things like that happen. I got a little breakfast at DD and read the magazines I still had from the airport in Atlantic City and then I went through security and to my gate. Which is where I wrote this morning's blog entry. Wait, did I already tell you all of this? I'm confused right now... oh no. Travelbrain!! It can coordinate flight schedules and passport locations, but everything else just gets lost. The flight was very calm and when there weren't too many clouds (many tropical storms out there right now, it's hurricane season) I could see a few of the Bahamas islands and the beautiful Caribbean Sea right below us. 2h50min later we landed at SXM, Princess Juliana International Airport - that's the one you always see on YouTube, with the beach right next to where the jets land and take off! Lucky me has a CS host here on the island, so I get to not only stay with someone instead of at one of the very expensive hotels, but also hang out with cool people. I called her after getting my luggage, because the bus information I got at the airport conflicted with what she had told me, so I had no idea how to get to where we had agreed to meet up. Guess what: she came to pick me up! Charlotte is her name and she's a lovely Dutch expat. She came to pick me up with her friend Wendy's surfer, then we went to drop my bags off at her house, I changed into something more weather-appropriate (jeans and shoes are only for planes) and we headed back out to pick up Wendy and GO TO THE BEACH! Right away! And, oh gods, what a beach it was... so beautiful! Light tan sand, crystal clear water, palmtrees... and it was slightly windy so we weren't too hot. Yet the wind didn't affect the water, which was so calm, you could see reflections of the palmtrees on its surface. Can you even imagine that? I know I wouldn't be able to, but I can't help you, my camera isn't charged. Sorriez... next time. After spending a few hours enjoying the beach we went to a place called La Bamba, a beach-bar style restaurant at another beach. There I got the first Ting of the season (Ting, oh how I love you!!) and a shrimp wrap. Talk about delicious food! Right now we're back at Charlotte's place and she's letting me use her computer for checking my e-mails, my Facebook and for writing this for you. Later, we're going dancing. Sint Maarten is awesome so far. And I have a feeling it's going to continue this way... But don't worry, I'll let you know. Promised.